


11 - Stitches

by VickeyStar



Series: Whumptober 2019 [11]
Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-08 00:40:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20985098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VickeyStar/pseuds/VickeyStar
Summary: “And why can’t this be done at the hospital?”





	11 - Stitches

“And why can’t this be done at the hospital?”

“Gunshots always get reported, Higgins, and I don’t want Katsumoto getting involved yet.” Magnum replies, wincing as she puts another stitch in his abdomen.

“I’m not worried about the gunshot; I’m worried about the four-inch long cut I’m currently stitching up for you. And the five-inch one on your back, don’t think I didn’t see that.”

Magnum huffs like a child scorned, wincing again as she finishes the stitches on his abdomen.

“Sixteen stitches on the front, twenty on the back. You’re lucky I don’t want you to scar, although you would deserve it.”

He scoffs as she puts the bandage lightly over the stitches, moving to his back with the alcohol-covered cotton cloth.

“I don’t deserve it, I had a plan! I brought backup, I knew what I was doing! And I won the fight!”

She pressed the pad down on the cut a tad harder than she really should.

“You got thirty-six stitches and shot. You didn’t win.”

He stays silent, conceding to her point.

She finishes the stitching, tying off the thread as he hands her the next bandage.

“You’ll have to keep these in for at least a week, check them every morning for redness or swelling. Sleep on your side, try not to pull them or do anything too wild. And no swimming until they’re out.”

She can see that he’s about to protest, cutting him off before he can.

“We have no idea what bacteria are in that water. Besides, if salt gets in your wounds, it’ll hurt like hell and you know it. Just stick to your rowing machine, set on the lowest setting, mind you, and you’ll be fine.”

He gives her a doubtful look, and she sighs.

“Despite the evidence to the contrary, I am fairly certain you are not a merman. You can survive a week without swimming. And no cases. They always get out of hand, you don’t need that kind of stress on the stitches right now.”

“I have clients, Higgie, I’ve got two cases waiting now!”

She shrugs. “I’ll handle them. You just try not to mess up the stitches. I’ll even let Rick and T.C. stay with you in the guest house until you’ve healed.”

Thomas pauses, knowing she’s serious when she offers that.

“For real?”

She lifts an eyebrow at him.

“I can’t babysit you and solve your cases, so yes. Your babysitters can stay here for the week.”

He’s already excitedly attempting to pull a shirt over his head, failing miserably as his shot arm protests.

Higgins rolls her eyes, grabbing a Hawaiian shirt.

“Maybe stick to button-up shirts for now.”

He accepts it with a sheepish grin, phone in hand as he tries to call his friends and button his shirt at the same time.

In an unsurprising turn of events, he fails miserably.

Juliet rolls her eyes again, batting his hand away as his other hand holds his phone to his ear.

Magnum doesn’t question it when she steps into his personal space, starting to button his shirt from the bottom up.

He’s already talking to Rick, excitedly looking just over her shoulder while she stands close, fingers deftly buttoning the shirt.

“One, or two?” She asks out of the blue, and he lifts a questioning eyebrow.

She lightly tugs the top of the shirt, last two buttons unbuttoned.

Thomas shrugs. “Up to you.”

She leaves it as is, hands smoothing down the shirt as he finishes his call.

“Rick and T.C.’ll be here in ten.”

She nods, and they both suddenly realize how close they are.

They hold eye contact for a long second before Juliet takes a step back, eyes going to the ground as Thomas does the same.

“I’ll go get some food from the main house. You forgot to go grocery shopping, again.” She says, already determined to move past the awkward air.

“Yeah. See you in a bit.” Thomas replies, still a little confused as to what just happened.

Juliet makes her exit, returning with beers and burger supplies, totally coincidentally timing her return with Rick and T.C.’s arrival.

Their two friends clearly pick up on the awkward tension between the two, but refuse to let that mess with the night.

Half an hour in, they’re all back to normal.

~*~

“Stop squirming.”

“Higgie, it _hurts_.”

She sighs.

“I’m pulling stitches out of your skin, Magnum, of course it hurts. I offered to numb the areas, but _someone_ wanted to be a moron.”

Rick tsk’s in the corner. “Should’ve taken the shots, man.”

Magnum settles for glaring over Higgins’s shoulder, the woman dabbing at the tiny cuts on his abdomen with a tissue.

“Alright, now for your back.”

She steps around him, ignoring the totally not subtle _looks _that Rick is giving Thomas.

Thomas simply glares at his friend, whatever they’re silently discussing being a topic that he clearly wants to avoid.

“So Higgie,” Rick speaks, and with those words she knows that Thomas isn’t avoiding whatever it is.

“Yes, Orville?” She asks, not even looking away from where she’s undoing the stitches in Thomas’s back.

He gives a dramatically wounded sound, presumably grabbing his chest.

“You wound me with your words, Miss Higgins! You know you can call me Richard, if you don’t want to call me Rick.”

Juliet suddenly has a crystal-clear understanding on why Thomas wanted to avoid this subject.

Her hands still, eyes determinedly focused on Thomas’s back as the man tenses, ready to shut Rick up.

Rick is about to continue talking, still easygoing and open as he looks at the two, suddenly realizing that he’d accidentally stepped into a minefield.

“It’s fine if you don’t, Higgie, I don’t really care either way. I’m gonna go get some aspirin.”

He leaves quickly, his two friends still silent.

Juliet takes a quick breath, steadying her hands as she silently gets back to working on Thomas’s stitches.

“You okay?”

She finishes quickly, dabbing at the small incisions as she considers.

“I will be.”

Thomas turns to face her, eyes searching for truth.

She lets him.

After a moment, he nods.

“We’ve all got your back, if you aren’t. You know that, right?”

She nods, hearing Rick make a mess in the Guest House’s bathroom.

“It’s fine, I’ll clean it up, it’s fine!” His voice yells out to them, and they both chuckle, a little.

“Yeah. I know.”

Thomas grins as Rick reemerges, aspirin in hand and toothpaste in his hair.

“I’m sorry, Higgie.” Rick starts to apologize, but she waves him off.

“You won’t do it again.”

He immediately nods, spraying specs of water and toothpaste on his friends as they laugh.

It is not alright, but he understands that, now.

He won’t do it again, even if he doesn’t know why.

It’s enough that it hurts her.

edn


End file.
